Thursday, July 14, 2005
Mr NKF, the court-happy combatant
Disclaimer: I do not condemn or commend.
THE MAN: What he goes to court for
Mr NKF, the court-happy combatant
By Conrad Raj
July 14, 2005
FORMER real estate agent Archie Ong was over the moon when he heard that National Kidney Foundation chief T T Durai had withdrawn his defamation suit against Singapore Press Holdings.
'God is great,' the former NKF volunteer said when asked how he felt after Mr Durai admitted in court on Monday that he had flown first class on NKF funds.
'I feel fully vindicated now. I had more than a hundred calls today to wish me well,' he added.
A close friend had phoned him on hearing the news and, soon after, others also rang in to either congratulate or to ask him what he planned to do next.
NIGHTMARE
For Mr Ong, the nightmare of the suit against him is now almost over.
His legal problems had affected his father who was then in hospital suffering from cancer.
Mr Ong had kept the suit a secret from his father but when the news hit the papers, the shock was apparently too much for the weakened man, who later died.
Friends tried to settle the matter between the two former university mates but Mr Durai had been adamant about clearing his name and the NKF's and demanded a public apology and compensation.
Mr Ong, who is now a financial services consultant, together with aero-modelling instructor Piragasam Singaravelu, had been taken to court separately in 1998 for alleging then that Mr Durai had flown first class.
Both made public apologies and paid damages and costs to the NKF.
The NKF, including chairman Richard Yong, had maintained that senior executives fly business class for long-haul flights. Indeed, in Ms Long's article of 19 April last year, Mr Yong had categorically stated that 'there is no such thing as first class travel'.
On Monday Mr Durai, following intense questioning by SPH lawyer Mr Davinder Singh, admitted that he had flown first class on NKF business as its board had allowed this as long as he did not exceed the SIA business class rate.
Asked by Mr Singh if he would now do the right thing by returning the money and apologising to Mr Ong and Mr Singaravelu, Mr Durai replied: 'No. I want to explain because at that time I was not travelling using NKF's money to buy a first-class ticket. I paid the difference and then travelled on first class.'
THE MAN: What he goes to court for
Mr NKF, the court-happy combatant
By Conrad Raj
July 14, 2005
FORMER real estate agent Archie Ong was over the moon when he heard that National Kidney Foundation chief T T Durai had withdrawn his defamation suit against Singapore Press Holdings.
'God is great,' the former NKF volunteer said when asked how he felt after Mr Durai admitted in court on Monday that he had flown first class on NKF funds.
'I feel fully vindicated now. I had more than a hundred calls today to wish me well,' he added.
A close friend had phoned him on hearing the news and, soon after, others also rang in to either congratulate or to ask him what he planned to do next.
NIGHTMARE
For Mr Ong, the nightmare of the suit against him is now almost over.
His legal problems had affected his father who was then in hospital suffering from cancer.
Mr Ong had kept the suit a secret from his father but when the news hit the papers, the shock was apparently too much for the weakened man, who later died.
Friends tried to settle the matter between the two former university mates but Mr Durai had been adamant about clearing his name and the NKF's and demanded a public apology and compensation.
Mr Ong, who is now a financial services consultant, together with aero-modelling instructor Piragasam Singaravelu, had been taken to court separately in 1998 for alleging then that Mr Durai had flown first class.
Both made public apologies and paid damages and costs to the NKF.
The NKF, including chairman Richard Yong, had maintained that senior executives fly business class for long-haul flights. Indeed, in Ms Long's article of 19 April last year, Mr Yong had categorically stated that 'there is no such thing as first class travel'.
On Monday Mr Durai, following intense questioning by SPH lawyer Mr Davinder Singh, admitted that he had flown first class on NKF business as its board had allowed this as long as he did not exceed the SIA business class rate.
Asked by Mr Singh if he would now do the right thing by returning the money and apologising to Mr Ong and Mr Singaravelu, Mr Durai replied: 'No. I want to explain because at that time I was not travelling using NKF's money to buy a first-class ticket. I paid the difference and then travelled on first class.'
